US Labor Department and consulate general of Honduras sign agreement to protect the rights of Honduran national migrant workers

NEW ORLEANS -- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the consulate general of Honduras today in New Orleans signed an agreement of understanding to combine resources and coordinate efforts to inform employers about the laws enforced by the department and to educate Honduran nationals working in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri about their rights under United States law.

The signing ceremony took place at the Honduran consulate’s New Orleans office at One Canal Place. As part of the agreement, the division will provide training for consulate staff to ensure they have a working knowledge of statutes enforced by the division, including the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act and its child labor provisions, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the field sanitation standards under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the temporary nonimmigrant agricultural guest-worker (H-2A) program under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for us and the Honduran consulate to promote compliance with wage and hour laws,” said Cynthia Watson, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. “Today, through our efforts, workers will be educated on their rights under Wage and Hour laws and be assured that they are fully protected under all its statutes.”

For more information on compliance assistance or labor laws, call the Wage and Hour Division’s New Orleans District Office at 504-589-6171 or its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.

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